Method of cleaning lead-sheathed cables



M y 1951 A. L. LOUCKS 2,550,932

METHOD OF CLEANING LEAD-SHEATHED CABLES Filed Ma 23, 1946 s Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

IN l/E/V TOR A.L. Laue/(s BY I ATTORNEY May l, 1951 A. L. LOUCKS METHOD OF CLEANI NG LEAD-SHEATHED CABLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed m 23, 1946 lNl/E/V TOR AL. LOUCKS A 7'7'ORNE Y Patented May 1, 1951 METHOD OF CLEANING LEAD-SHEATHED 'C'ABLES Alton-1 L. Loucks, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Western. Electric Company, Incorporated, New York,.N. Y., a corporation ofNew' York.

Application May 23, 1946, Serial No. 671,838

2- Claims.

This invention relates tov methods. of-cleanin lead-sheathed. cables.

In the manufacture of lead-sheathed cables; a

cable core is advanced through a lead extrusion press, which extrudes a hot lead sheath over the cable core, and the cable is immediately wound upon: a. take-upreel. In order to prevent the hot lead of the portion of thesheath of one turn of the cable on a take-up reel from. sticking" to those of turns in contact therewith, lubricating maapplied to the. lead sheath as itemerges from the lead. press and before the cable is wound on the reel. If coverings are subseguently to be applied adhesively to the lead-sheathed cable, it is essential to remove the tallow previously applied thereto because the tallow lessens the effect of adhesive material which. is applied to the cable. Inthe past, only laborious. and complicated methods of removing. the. tallow from lead-sheathed cables have been known.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved methods. of. cleaning lead-sheathed cables.

A method. constituting one embodiment of the invention includes. the steps of "continuously advancing a lead-sheathed cable having tallow, or the like, thereon, covering the cable with a hot thermoplastic cement to melt the tallow, and wiping the tallow and the cement off of the leadsheathed cable. A coating of cement then may be made to the cleaned lead-sheathed cable without interference in the adhesiveness thereof from the tallow.

An apparatus by means of which methods embodying the invention may be practiced, in-

cludes means for covering a lead-sheathed cable having tallow, or the like, thereon with a hot thermoplastic cement, a tight wiper for wiping the cement and the tallow from the cable, and means for coating the wiped portion of the cable with thermoplastic cement.

A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description of a method forming a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary, front elevation of a portion of an apparatus for accomplishing a method forming one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary,front elevation of another portion of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, top plan view of a portion of the apparatus with portions thereof broken away;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, vertical section taken along line 4-4"of Fig. 3, and.

Fig. 5' is an enlarged viewof an element of the apparatus.

Referring: now in detail to-thedrawings, a leadsheathed cableZB, having tallow, or the like, covering all-ora part of the periphery thereof, is advanced from a supply reel- 2| mounted on a supply stand 22 through a bellmouth 23- and a cleaning and flooding tank 24'. Associated with terial, such as tallow, or the like, is sometimes 'fl d fl s'a electric motor 25;:Whi0h drives a pumpa|9 (Fig. 4a to. pump hot thermosplastic cement, or other adhesive; material. such as asphalt, upon the cable through troughs 26 and 21 Fig.'3-):. The hot cement applied to the cable by the trough 2'6 meltsthe tallow, and a tightwiper 28 wipes the cement and the melted tallow from the periphery of thecable. 1 The hot cement flowingv through the trough 21 then covers the wiped periphery'of the: cable and the excess 3 5 thereof is wiped from the "cable by a relatively loose wiper 29:. The tallow and any other meltable substance on the cable is completely removed therefrom by the hot cementapplied by the trough 2-6 and the wiping action of the wiper *1 28 so that the tallow doesnotprevent adhesion between: the cement applied/to. the cable by the trough 21 and the cable.

The cable 20 passes from the flooding tank 24 to a tape applicator 3B, which is disclosed and.

claimed in my copending application Serial No. 671,835, filed May 23, 1946, now matured as Patent No. 2,494.050, dated January 10, 1950. The tape applicator 30 applies an insulating tape 3| formed of thermoplastic material longitudinally to the cable. Other coatings then are applied over the tape 3| as disclosed in the above-mentioned copending application. The cable 20 is advanced through the above-disclosed apparatus by a capstan (not shown), which is disclosed in the above-mentioned copending application.

The cleaning and flooding tank 24 includes a screen 40 (Fig. 4) for supporting drums of thermoplastic cement upside down therein in a steamjacketed melting chamber 4|. The heat in the steam-jacketed chamber 4| melts the cement in the drums so that the cement flows through the screen into the bottom portion of the steamjacketed chamber 4|, which heats the cement to a high temperature. An externally controlled valve 42 may be opened to permit the cement to flow by gravity from the melting chamber 4| into a steam-jacketed circulating chamber 43. The cement is pumped from the circulating chamber 43, pumped upwardly into the troughs 26 and 21 (Fig. 3) through the pump l9 (Fig. 4), which includes impellers 45--45. The cement flows through the trough 26 onto the cable 20 and completely covers the cable. The hot cement melts the tallow on the periphery of the lead-sheathed cable 20 upon contact therewith, and the coated portion of the cable 20 is advanced through the tight wiper 28.

The wiper 28 includes a wiping block 50 (Fig. 5) having a hole 5| therein of such a size that the block 50 fits tightly over the lead-sheathed cable. The wiping block 50 is formed of semihard rubber and is also provided with a slit 52 extending from an outer edge thereof to the hole 5|. The slit 52 permits the wiping block 5| to be placed over the cable transversely with respect thereto, the cable passing through the slit 52. A thong 55 holds the wiping block 50 tightly upon the cable 20, and an expansible snugger block 56 (Fig. 4) having a clearance hole 51 therein holds the wiping block 50 against movement with the cable -20'as' the cable is advanced therethrough. The wiping block 50 wipes substantially all of the thermoplastic cement from the cable 20, and the cement carries off the melted tallow and any other foreign substances which might be on the periphery of the cable so that the periphery of the cable is cleaned. Hence, the cement applied to the cable in the trough 21'adheres uniformly to the periphery of the leadsheathed cable. The melted tallow becomes dispersed in the cement, and it is small enough in quantity relative to the quantity of the cement that when the tallow is dispersed in the cement, the tallow does not affect the adhesiveness of the cement with respect to the cable. However, unless the tallow were wiped from the periphery of the cable, it would separate the cement from the cable and then would. have a deleterious effect upon the coating of the cable with the cement.

The cement applied in the trough 21 covers the cable 20 in excess of that actually needed, and the wiper 29, which is identical with the wiper 28 except that 'wiper 29 does' not fit so tightly over the cable, wipes only the excess cement from the cable and leaves a cement coating of the desired thickness on the cable. The'thermoplastic tape 3| (Fig. 2) then is applied to the cement-covered cable by the tape applicator 30 as described in the above-mentioned copending application.

The method described hereinabove serves to effectively clean tallow and other foreign substances from the periphery of the lead-sheathed cable 20 as an incident to applying cement to the cable. Hence, no elaborate cleaning equipment and materials are required. The apparatus is highly efiective in cleaning and covering cables and is simple in construction and operation so that initial and maintenance costs of the apparatus are relatively low.

' What is claimed is:

1. The method of cleaning lead-sheathed cables, which comprises continuously covering with molten asphalt a lead-sheathed cable having on the periphery thereof a lubricant softenable by molten asphalt and miscible therewith to loosen the lubricant on the cable, and wiping the molten asphalt and the lubricant substantially completely from the cable.

2. The method of cleaning lead-sheathed cables, which comprises continuously advancing such a cable having tallow on the periphery thereof through a bath of molten asphalt, whereby the tallow is loosened on the cable, and removing the asphalt and the tallow from the cable.

ALTON L. LOUCKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,210,722 Sultzer Jan. 2, 1917 1,726,623 Hollnagel Sept. 3, 1929 1,731,843 De Graaff Oct. 15, 1929 1,994,802 Adams Mar. 19, 1935 2,093,411 Bowden'et a1 Sept. 21, 1937 2,305,005 Henry Dec. 15, 1942 2,340,207 Sherrill Jan. 25, 1944 2,389,725 Gillis et a1. Nov. 27, 1945 2,393,678 Graham Jan. 29, 1946 

